'Mr Howarth is a brilliant writer, full of grace and wit and solid common sense' THE NEW YORKER

A reprint of a marvellous retelling of the Armada story. Until this book was published, the Battle of the Armada had been told primarily from the English viewpoint, the English victory puffed up into a national heroic tale which was far from the truth.

There is another side to this story, however, and, basing his narrative on previously unexplored Spanish sources, David Howarth, brilliantly redressed the balance.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product description

Book Description

The author recreates the drama of the Armada's progress and course.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

David Howarth was a BBC correspondent in the Second World War until 1940 when he joined the Royal Navy and came under the command of the Special Operations Service running clandestine operations between Shetland and Norway. In peacetime he remained in Shetland, and it was then that he started his writing career. Some of his books include The Shetland Bus, Dawn of D-Day. and Waterloo: A Near Run Thing. David Howarth died in 1991, at the age of 78.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

As the subtitle implies, this history of the Armada is told mostly from the Spanish point of view and relies more than most on Spanish sources. As in his other books, Howarth speculates perhaps a little more than would be warranted in a strictly scholarly book, especially about what's going on inside people's heads. However I forgive him, for at least three good reasons: imprimis, he never *claims* to be writing a strictly scholarly book, rather history for the general reading public; secundus, he does his speculating right in the open, not making dangerously implicit assumptions; and tertius, his speculations seem very reasonable. Indeed, if I can find any fault in his reading of people's minds, it's that he assumes a little too much cozy English common sense, he has trouble getting inside the heads of fanatics.

But for what he's trying to do, he succeeds wonderfully well: he's put together, from very different and contradictory sources, a single narrative that's easy to follow and that explains what happened and maybe why. Also, he knows ships and sailing, and can explain what's going on in terms of wind and weather better even than the people at the time could. Recommended both as a first book on the Armada for the novice, and as a supplementary presentation of the Spanish side for the Drakeophile who knows the English history pretty well already.

Having read David Howarth's "Trafalgar - the Nelson Touch" I already knew the guy can write. This one made me admire his skill even more - what a great book! Sure, the subject matter is so spectacular that it would seem difficult to produce a dull book, but really this one is abolutely top notch. Howarth knows his way around ships and sailing and it shows. What I particularly liked is that he puts things in the right context. Rather than trying to spice up the story by implying what a narrow-run thing it was, he just bluntly states (very correctly) that even if the English navy had not existed, the armada still would have accomplished nothing. The Spanish were fighting the Dutch already for 20 years without much success; there is simply no way they would have been able to subdue England which had about 3 X the population of the Netherlands. Anyway, this one is highly recommended.

This wonderfully descriptive book by the English author, David Howarth, is well worth reading if you have a desire to learn about the Spanish Armada and the "Enterprise against England". Although this book, 'The Voyage of the Armada' (1981) is not as detailed as 'The Armada' (1959) by Garrett Mattingly, its still a great story and well worth the time to read.By all accounts this story of the enterprise is told as it was seen through the eyes and experiences of the Spanish soldiers and sailors and is very well done in that regard. Using first hand accounts found in numerous Spanish letters and reports, many previously not utilised before, the story comes alive and gives you a real feeling and understanding of the participants, many who did not survive to tell their tale.One aspect of the book that I found pleasing was that the author took the story past the battle with the English fleet. David Howarth provides the reader with an account of what happened to the ships and men who actually survived the "dash" up the Channel. Those who were shipwrecked along the Irish coast were subjected to even more terror than they had experienced so far and very few survived.The real hero of this story is Medina Sidonia, the commander of the Spanish ships, and I found myself wondering could anyone have done any better under similar circumstances? This is a great story with an exciting narrative and although it only runs to 250 pages (hardback edition) I found I came away with a better understanding of what happened and why. This book would be a great companion volume to 'The Armada' by Garrett Mattingly but can stand alone as a decent and well presented account of the "Armada".

I bought this book to learn more about the Armada. In history at school it was mostly about Sir Francis Drake playing bowls and that the Spanish were defeated.

It is said in my family that we are descended from a man who came over with the Armada and I was interested to read more about it. It was interesting and informative to read more details and learn about the events from the Spanish point of view. A good read.